Not upheld: fraud protection and scam liability complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M was victim of an impersonation scam where fraudsters posing as FCA representatives instructed him to make genuine purchases on his AMEX credit card to assist with a fake investigation. Between 13-17 December 2025, Mr M made nine payments totalling £12,900.47. AMEX declined to refund the transactions. The ombudsman found that while AMEX should have intervened by the fourth payment due to suspicious patterns (three payments to the same merchant totalling over £6,599), this failure did not cause Mr M's loss because he would not have disclosed the scam even if questioned, having been coached by the scammers. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while AMEX breached its duty to protect customers from fraud by failing to intervene at the fourth payment, this breach did not cause Mr M's loss. The scammers had specifically instructed Mr M to maintain that transactions were routine and to provide plausible explanations. Even if AMEX had asked probing questions, Mr M would not have disclosed the scam as he was actively maintaining the coached position. Additionally, AMEX could not recover the funds as genuine goods had been purchased from legitimate merchants, satisfying chargeback and Section 75 requirements.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website